Mondigstu
The Republic of Mondigstu (Republik'i Mondigstu in the Izema language) is a country located in the continent of Fareissa. It has a population of about 33,978,000 people. History Early History Mondigstu was settled by hunter-gatherers until around 500 AD when farmers from the east began displacing them to the south. Three major tribes settled the region: the Tano in the north, the Izema in the West (Orange and Green) and the poorer hunter-gathering Moja in the drier grasslands of the south. In the 1730s Cymbranian explorers "discovered" Mondigstu and came into contact with the Izema. The Izema were mistakenly believed to be the rulers of the land. Cymbrania traded with them for copper, sugar and slaves and set up a port in the western coast region to handle the trade. It was characterized by Green's Island, which was where slaves were held until being placed into ships and it was the last part of their country most would ever see. Colonial era The territory comprising modern-day Mondigstu was formally claimed in 1868 though settlement of the interior was only begun in the 1870s. Cymbranian missionaries set up churches, schools and a few health centers. Independence In the late 1950s Cymbrania began giving its Farisian colonies their autonomy and the same applied to Mondigstu. On August 1 1964 Mondigstu was given its independence; it was free from Cymbranian rule but still had the Queen as head of state. Dr. Nigel Mizema, an Izema who studied law in Cymbrania (at Bennington College) was appointed Prime Minister. He was the leader of United Mondigstu, the centrist party and formed a coalition with the center-left Alliance. But, the rightist PAMF (Party for Mondigstean Freedom, led by Benjamin Nyere) and the Socialists felt excluded and increasingly held protests, strikes and civil disobedience. In February 1965 the PAMF secretly supported a campaign of violence against white Cymbranians, and citing the ineffectiveness of Mizema's government were able to take over the Alliance's seats. On March 8, 1965 Mizema was killed in a coup and Nyere took over as leader. He proclaimed Mondigstu a republic and he became the first president. Nyere quickly had his opponents imprisoned and was regarded by the international community as a dictator or "strongman". As much as Nyere disliked the "colonial opressors" he felt that kicking them out would not be good for the economy so he began selling and leasing resources and land to northern companies from Cymbrania, Franconia and Köbrau. There was much displeasure at giving these companies a monopoly of Mondigstean resources, but much of the money went to schools, healtcare and infrastructure; there was still a good amount of this going to the military and into politicians' pockets as well. In 1969 the socialist-inspired Army had had enough of this and led a coup in which Nyere was deposed and would briefly go into hiding. Military rule The Military, under Col. Mendisu Mazinga took control of Mondigstu in May 1969. Nyere went into hiding but was arrested by border guards trying to enter Bandaland. A large show-trial condemned many of Mondigstu's former leaders and put them in prison. Nyere was jailed too but was killed in 1970. The communist junta sought help from Vistania in military, economic and social aspects. Every industry and resource was nationalized and there was nothing that the companies involved could do. The decent standard of living under Nyere was gone by 1973; medical clinics were understaffed and overloaded, education became socialist and while freely available, it was crowded as well. Vistania became Mondigstu's prime trading partner, and one could find crappy Vistanian cars (like KAGOV and PEGOV), radios, readymade housing and other communist products in the cities. Much of the bush and the jungle could have seemed as though it was unaffected by the surrounding events, save for the presence of gun-wielding anticommunist militias which terrorized the countryside; the government at Masissa was unable to achieve much against them.